Harry Potter & the Mortal Enemy
by Alex6
Summary: Harry Potter is in his fifth year at Hogwarts. Over the summer holidays, he is invited to stay at Hermione's house, but has to relocate to Hogwarts because of Death Eater activity. *Chapter 5 up*
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and the Mortal Enemy  
By Alex

Chapter One

* * *

Harry Potter woke up to the sound of his aunt banging on his bedroom door, yelling at him to get up and make breakfast for her precious Dudley. _Some things never change_, he thought to himself. 

He got dressed in his hand-me-downs that came from Dudley - where else would they come from, and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. 

"Why did you take so long? You're lucky that we're even looking after you at all, we could put you in an orphanage if we wanted" snapped Aunt Petunia, with Dudley smirking at him at the background. 

Harry swallowed the remark he was going to say in response, and started to fry the bacon. Of course, when he was done cooking enough to feed a whole family for a week, it all went to Dudley, while all he got was a slice of toast that was _very _burnt. 

He had never got as much as Dudley, although he suspected that it was due to the fact that he was a wizard, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, just about to enter 5th year, and the Dursleys absolutely hated him for that fact (and also that his parents had been killed by the famous Dark Wizard, Lord Voldemort, and had landed themselves with Harry), so they never treated him well. Not that he cared. 

It took him roughly a minute to eat his breakfast, so he ran quickly upstairs before his aunt and uncle could give him more housework. He still hadn't finished that job from a week ago, painting the shed, and he really needed to finish that if he wanted to stay sort of on their good side. 

He walked into his room, and to his surprise there was an owl that he didn't recognize waiting on his bed for him. It was from Hermione Granger, one of his two best friends. (The other was Ron Weasley) 

_Dear Harry, _

_Sorry I haven't sent you anything, I was away in Greece and I know you probably couldn't send Hedwig to me, knowing the Dursleys. I got a new owl yesterday, and I figured I might as well try to contact you. _

_How are you doing staying with your aunt and uncle? Mum and Dad said that you probably aren't having fun, as they know all about them, and they offered for you to come and stay with me. And we've already cleared it with Professor Dumbledore, so that's ok. The Ministry of Magic have put up wards all around our house, so you don't have to worry about You-Know-Who, especially since he's come back (even though Fudge still refuses to believe it). _

_Write back and tell me if you can come, and we'll come around and pick you up (in a car, I heard about what happened last year!) If you aren't allowed, we'll come around anyway. _

_Hermione _

Harry grinned, and went down to ask his Uncle if he could go. He stopped outside the kitchen door, which was closed, and was about to knock when he heard his name. 

"But I don't want him to come on this holiday, he'll ruin everything!" He heard Dudley complaining, which wasn't surprising. 

"Well, what are we going to do with the boy then? Mrs. Figg has gone away with her blasted cats AGAIN, so where else can he go?" His aunt this time. This reminded him of a conversation when it was Dudley's birthday 4 years ago, when he ended up going to the zoo. Suddenly, he had an idea that would get all of them what they wanted. 

He knocked on the door, and his uncle growled at him "What do you want now?" He entered the room, to find all three of them glaring at him. 

"Umm, I just wanted to ask if I could go and stay at my friend's house for the rest of the summer, while you go away on your holiday." 

"And what made you think that we would let you go?" snapped his uncle. 

"Well, it was just that I heard you saying that Mrs. Figg is on holidays, and you didn't have anybody to look after me." He replied. 

"Alright. I supposed you can go. Mind you, I'm not dropping you off, and I don't want any funny business like last year." 

Harry tried not to smirk at **that** memory – his other best friend, Ron Weasley, had come via Floo Powder with his family. That would have been fine, except the Dursley's had an electrical fireplace. 

Keeping a straight face, he replied "Oh, the Grangers are Mug…ordinary people like you. They **do** have a normal car." 

"Well if these…Grangers, you say? Come and pick you up, I guess that it's alright." His uncle responded. 

"Thankyou!" said Harry, and raced up the stairs to reply to Hermione. 

_Hermione – _

_ I can come! Come and pick me up whenever is suitable, as soon as possible please though, I can't wait to be rid of the Dursleys!!! _

_ – Harry _

-tbc- 

A/N – Please tell me what you think of this, the good and the bad. This is my first attempt at a HP fanfic, and I'm anxious to see how people like it! 


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter & The Mortal Enemy  
By Alex

Chapter 2

* * *

Harry waited for a reply from Hermione to come as he started to pack up his books and all of his belongings that he would need for Hogwarts.

About 2 hours later, when he had finished everything, he heard a tapping at the window. It was Lola, Hermione's owl, with the reply.

_Dear Harry, _

_Of course you can come! I told mum at the start of the holidays about You-Know-Who coming back, and she said if you got lonely at your relatives' you could always stay with us. I figured I should wait until I got back from Greece, though. _

_When are you able to come? Mum says that based on what I've told her about the Dursleys, she doesn't want you in there any longer than you have to be, (which I know in your opinion is no time at all), so if it's ok with you, we can come and pick you up today!! _

_Write back ASAP, or even better, telephone me; I gave you my phone number on the way back from Hogwarts. _

_Love Hermione _

Harry was shocked, he didn't know that Hermione had told her parents so much about him. But it was great news that he could come today! Now, if only he could use the phone without getting totally yelled at…

Then he had a brainwave. The Dursleys were going out to dinner, actually they had already left. Of course Harry didn't get to go, but he was used to that. Now, if he could use the telephone before they got back, it _might_ work.

He found her number (it was still in the pocket of the robes he had been wearing when he came back from the Hogwarts Express) and raced downstairs to ring Hermione.

"Hello, Granger Residence, Hermione speaking."

"Hermione! It's Harry,"

"Harry! Are you able to come today? I got your owl and mum and dad both said that we could leave as soon as we heard from you. By the way, how did you talk the Dursleys into letting you use the phone?"

"Well, actually I didn't. They're actually out at a restaurant, celebrating Dudley's 50th report of bullying or something along those lines, so I sort of borrowed the phone."

"Sneaky! Well? Are you able to come or not?"

"Honestly, Hermione, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. No, I want to stay here with the Dursleys and be horribly mistreated. Do you _really _have to ask?"

He could almost _hear_ her blushing on the other end. "I guess that's a pretty stupid question. We'll come and pick you up now, then. You live in Little Whinging, Surrey, right?

Harry was surprised that she knew where he lived, but just said 'Uh, yeah. Four Privet Drive. How long will it take you to –" he broke off as he heard the sound of the Dursleys' car in the garage. "Hermione, I have to go. The Dursleys just came home, and I'll get into trouble, big time, if they catch me using the phone."

"Ok, bye! I'll see you in about fifteen minutes!" She hung up.

Harry felt confused. _Fifteen _minutes. He never knew Hermione lived so close to him, he thought her house was a couple of hours away, at least.

He darted away from the phone as he heard the door slam. "Boy, where are you? Come over here. NOW!" Harry sighed, and trudged over to his uncle wearily. "Yes?"

"I hope that your friend is coming to pick you up tonight, or tomorrow at the very latest, because we have a change of plans. We're leaving tomorrow night and we are NOT leaving you in this house by yourself. _Do I make myself clear?"_

Harry gulped, and said quickly, "Crystal. Actually, my friend will be here in," he looked at his watch. "Ten minutes. Am I allowed to wait outside for them?"

His uncle glared at him, and seemed to be thinking about it. Finally he muttered "Alright then. Ummm, bye. You're staying at that _school_ of yours over the holidays though, I hope?"  
  
Harry almost burst out laughing, and, resisting the temptation to tell Uncle Vernon that he would, in fact, be coming home over the holidays just to annoy them, said "Bye! And don't worry, I'll stay at _Hogwarts_ over the Christmas and Easter holidays."

He then grabbed his trunk, which was right near the door, packed and ready to go, and ran outside, before his uncle got annoyed at him for saying the name of his school and sat down to wait for the Grangers.

* * *

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit short; I wanted to have another chapter up before I go away for two weeks! I _will_ be working on this when I'm away though. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you!


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter and the Mortal Enemy   
by Alex

Chapter 3 

* * *

He didn't have to wait long. Harry had been outside for only a couple of minutes when a blue car pulled up outside, and Hermione jumped out from it. 

"Harry! How are you? We came as soon as we could, were you waiting long?" 

He grinned. "It depends if you call waiting a full two minutes a long time. No, after you hung up, I had a lovely chat with my favourite uncle. He seemed disappointed when I told him that you were coming so soon, I think he wanted to yell at me for not organising to be picked up either tonight or tomorrow." 

Hermione laughed. "Guess you're lucky that we live near you then. I can imagine how annoyed he would get. Oh! How rude of me! You haven't met my mother yet, have you? I'll just go and get her." 

As she ran off to get her mother, it occurred to Harry that in all of the time he had known Hermione, he had never once met her parents, or even heard her talk about them. In fact, the only time he could remember hearing about them was in their first year, when Ron had asked her to ask her parents about Nicolas Flamel, and she had told them that they were both dentists. 

As he was thinking about that, Hermione had gone over to the car and was talking to her mum. After a couple of moments, they both came over to talk to him, and Mr. Granger took Harry's things and started loading them into the car. 

Mrs. Granger swooped down to greet him, and kissed him on both cheeks. "Hello Harry, how are you? Hermione has told us so much about you! Now, I think we should be leaving now, before your relatives get nervous about a wizard _and a witch on their property. Unless you want to stay?" She said, with a twinkle in her eye. _

In some ways, she reminded him of Molly Weasley, acting as if he was one of her own children. He supposed Hermione had told her all about the Dursleys, and could understand why he wasted to leave. 

"No, I would much rather leave here as quickly as we can, Mrs. Granger, if it's not too much trouble." 

"No, it's none at all. Well, Ted has finished loading up the car, so let's go. I take it you don't need to say goodbye to anybody?" 

He thought of the Dursleys, and said "Nobody at all. Basically the only people here I know are the Dursleys, and I'm not exactly dying of excitement to go and talk to _them." _

She laughed, then said, "Well, we'd best be off then. Where would you like Hedwig? In the car with you?" 

He thought of the hairpin he had in his belt, and said "Yes, please. I can undo her cage with a trick the Weasleys taught me then." They all climbed into the car. 

He grinned, and as the car started, he got out the hairpin and began to pick the lock on Hedwig's cage. Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers, had taught him this trick at the Burrow after they had rescued him from being locked in his room at the beginning of his second year. They had taught it to him in case the Dursleys locked him into his room again, but it was also useful for Hedwig's cage, especially when he couldn't use _'Alohomora' without getting caught breaking the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry. _

Even though he hadn't gotten caught at the start of his third year, he had gotten a letter from the Improper Use of Magic office in his second year, and it was hard to tell if they would be angry, especially when it seemed half of the officials didn't believe Voldemort was indeed back, the Minister of Magic being one of them, saying that he was out of his mind. Because of this, he didn't really want to risk it. 

Since he wasn't as used to picking locks as Fred and George were, it was a good five minutes before he had opened the cage. Hermione rolled down the window, and Hedwig gave a grateful nip on the ear before flying outside. Hermione's parents looked like this happened everyday, which, he had to remind himself, probably did. 

Hermione stretched out next to him, and said "So, were the Dursleys their usual, friendly selves?" 

He groaned. "You have no idea. They've upgraded from just yelling at me and giving me the occasional job to giving me a job almost every day." He smirked. "They'll be so disappointed. Since they went away on holidays and got rid of me as soon as they could, I never got a chance to finish painting the shed." 

She looked confused. "Painting the shed? Why on earth would you need to paint the shed for? I thought you said that they got a new shed put in a couple of months ago, didn't you?" 

"Yeah, but it still didn't stop them from making me repaint it after Dudley _accidentally rode his bicycle into it the day I got back from the train. You know, sometimes I think that my aunt and uncle tell him to deliberately do things like that just so that they have an excuse to make me do work. It'll be such a pity – they'll have to actually hire somebody to finish it. I know that Aunt Petunia won't want anybody to see a tiny hole in a shed – it might ruin her whole reputation." He sighed. "Either that or they'll just leave it for me until the __next summer holidays. _

Hermione was about to say something in reply, but Mrs. Granger broke in. "I'm dreadfully sorry to cut in on your conversation, but I just wanted to let you know that we are almost there. We're just turning into our street; it will be about a minute until we get there." 

Harry blinked, and looked outside the window. They were turning into a street which was a couple of blocks down from the school he would have gone to, before he found out that he was a wizard. It was a quick drive to the school, but the Dursleys would have made him walk there knowing them, even thought it was a good hour's walk with all of the hills included. He supposed that that would be the reason why Hermione had never come to visit him over the holidays. Either that or she was it was afraid that it would get Harry in trouble – like the time in his third year when Ron had rung his house. "I didn't know you lived near me. I thought that you lived ages away from me. Not ten minutes!" 

She grinned. "We did. I came back from Hogwarts and found that Mum and Dad had moved without telling me. But it doesn't matter. I prefer this house – for one thing, I have my own separate room to study in." 

Harry smirked. "Don't you mean a separate room to memorise every single textbook that's on our list? Speaking of which, have you got your list this year? It seems to be later than normal." 

She sighed. "No, I suppose it's because they have to work out all the prefects for our year level. It's such a nuisance though. I'm not able to read all of the set texts, so I'm re-reading _Hogwarts: A History."_

As the car pulled into the driveway, Harry said "What, for the twenty-second time? Or are you onto the twenty-third?" 

They both climbed out, and Mr. Granger, who had heard what Harry said, laughed and answered "That's our Hermione for you. Can never be satisfied by reading a book only once – she has to read it as many times as possible. But anyway, here we are. Hermione will give you a quick tour of the place, I hope, and then you can do whatever you want." 

Harry nodded, and stared up at the creamy-coloured house. It was _big. Hermione was about to walk inside after her parents, when she turned around and saw him staring. She went back to him and pulled his arm. "Come on! It's not really __that big. Mum said that the bottom floor is going to be rented out to boarders or something like that. Well, let's go inside and I'll show you around the place."  
  
They walked inside, and up to the second level. Mr. Granger poked his head out of one of the rooms. Oh, there you two are. Harry, I've put your trunk in the room that you'll be in. Hermione, can you please show Harry where to go? It's the guest room next to your room – is that okay?" _

She nodded, as they walked down the hall, saying over her shoulder, "Yes. Come on Harry, I'll show you where to go." She grinned. "You're lucky Dad didn't put you in the other guest room – it's packed with all of my books." 

"They're all ones that you've memorised, I bet," He said, as they arrived at the other end of the house. 

She smiled. "Guilty as charged. Well, here's your room," she said, pointing through a door. "Just make yourself at home, and give us a yell if you need anything. My room's just next door, and mum and dads one is at the other end of the house. 'Night, Harry." 

He walked into his room, suddenly too tired to do anything. Goodnight, Hermione". He crawled into the bed, only stopping to take off his glasses, and fell asleep. 

* * *

A/N: I hope that this chapter is longer than the other one *grins* because I had longer to do it. Hope you all like it! 


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter & the Mortal Enemy

By Alex

Chapter 4

* * *

Considering that Voldemort was back, it was surprising that he had had no dreams about his 'activities'. But it seemed that this would not be the case. For almost as soon as Harry had fallen into what he had hoped would be a dreamless slumber, like the other nights since his return from Hogwarts, he began to dream. Instantly he could tell that this was not a normal dream, but a true event that was occurring – something to do with Voldemort, that he was viewing through the scar on his forehead.

_He could see several people that he supposed were wizards, and judging from the masks over their faces, they were minions of Voldemort. They were standing in front of a house that he vaguely recognised, but he couldn't tell how he knew it. _

_He heard a voice, one that he recognised. It was Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail. It seemed that he was the Death Eater in charge of what ever they were doing. _

_Wormtail was yelling out orders to the Death Eaters, who were muttering different spells, with various consequences, "Hurry up and do your work. The Dark Lord will be most displeased if he hears of anything – or anyone – left standing."_

_A grunt answered back "Yes, sir, at once, sir" Crabbe, Harry thought,_

_"Well, are you done yet? I wish to have the pleasure__ of announcing our victory once and for all."_

_A voice, sounding like Luicis Malfoy, answered. "Of course. You know that we all want this…victory as much as you and our Master. Continue, if you will"_

_Wormtail muttered back, "We'll see about that. MORDEMORSE!" The house, which was now in ruins, smouldering slightly, suddenly had a bright green Death Mark hovering above it._

Harry woke up, gasping for air. As soon as Wormtail had shouted that incantation, his scar had started throbbing. 

Breathing quickly, his breath gradually slowing down to normal, he thought about the dream he had just had. It was strange, usually he could tell where he was, roughly, but this time he had no idea where the Death Eaters were. 

His scar was still throbbing, but not as much. It didn't hurt as much as it normally did when he had these 'dreams', but he supposed the only reason he didn't scream out loud and wake up the Granger household and the neighbours was the fact that Voldemort was not present – as far as he could tell.

Hopefully, he would find out sooner or later where the house was, or if anybody had been injured, or worse, killed, but for the meantime, he lay back down and tried to get back to sleep. It took some time, which was not surprising, as if he was almost afraid that if he went back to sleep, he would see more houses or families destroyed, but eventually he drifted to sleep.

*****

When he awoke in the morning, the house was quiet – more than it should have been. He could not hear any talk, from either Hermione or her parents. Curious, he quickly dressed, and headed into the kitchen area, which Hermione had pointed out to him on his 'tour' last night.

Hermione was the only person there, sitting down at the table eating breakfast. She looked up at Harry as he entered.

"Oh, Hi, Harry! Mum and Dad have both left for work, but they didn't want to wake you, so they said that we could just hang around the house or do whatever we want today. So, did you want to grab some breakfast or something?"

Harry, not wanting to scare her by telling her about his dream, knowing her past reactions, tried to act like normal. 'Umm, yeah, that should be fine."

Hermione got up from the kitchen table, and went to various cupboards, and pulled out an assortment of things – plates, bowls, and cereals. Harry felt that he had to do something before she emptied all of the kitchen cupboards, spoke up. "Hermione, it is only one person you need to get food for. Unless you have the whole of Hogwarts hidden here under Invisibility Cloaks, which I doubt."

She looked at all of the things that she had set out on the table, which was quickly running out of room, and looked surprised at all of the things she had gotten out. "Oh, I guess I just got carried away. Anyway, just take your pick of what you need, I think that I accidentally got out every single plate in the household!"

Harry grabbed a bowl, and some cereal, laughing and saying, "I'll say. I didn't know that people could have that many plates – even the Dursleys don't have as many, even with all of the plates that Dudley used every meal."

Hermione grinned. "Oh, I thought he was on that grapefruit diet though – what happened to it?" 

"Nothing much – he managed to lose, oh, what was it? That's right, about a pound – Aunt Petunia decided that her poor little diddums would starve if he didn't get taken off the diet, since he didn't lose much weight, so the school nurse gave in. I think that the school uniform supplier had to make about five more sizes for him though, since about a year ago he _just _managed to fit into the largest size. Not that I'm complaining – at least I actually get fed a decent meal now – well, decent for the Dursleys."

She grimaced. "You poor thing. Well, I know for sure that you will definitely get fed more here – I remember Mum saying something about how those Dursleys treated you so horribly every Summer, and how she was surprised you didn't starve to death."

Harry was about to reply, but was cut off as a tawny owl flew in the window. "And that would be…"

Hermione reached up to the leg of the owl, where a bulky paper was rolled up there. As soon as she removed it, the owl fluffed its feathers, and flew back out the kitchen window. "This would be the Daily Prophet, remember I told you that I took out a subscription last year because I was so sick of finding out everything from the Slytherins? Well, I continued it, it is so useful for keeping up with what's happening in the wizarding world." She shook out the paper, and had a quick glance at the front page. Her face turned pale, and she gasped. Harry walked over to have a look at what had given her this reaction, and wordlessly she handed him the paper. He had a look at the front page, and almost fainted at the headline.

"_Death Eater Attack – Target: The Boy Who Lived?"_

A/N: I am sooo sorry that I took so long to get this out. *sigh* Schoolwork calls. Yeah, don't you just love the way they hand out projects? I promise that I will try and get the next chapter out ASAP – but no ETA's – if I give one, I definitely won't be able to keep it knowing me. Review, please!


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter & the Mortal Enemy

By Alex

Chapter 5

He gasped, and quickly scanned the story. 

__

Last night, supposed Death Eater activity occurred yet again, although the wizarding community has not seen anything like this for years. It seems that their target is The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. Sources reveal that there were activities at Number Four Privet Drive, in Surrey, where Mr. Potter normally resides with his relatives, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. The Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal that Mr. Potter left the house at some point yesterday to stay at friends, although his location is classified information that is currently withheld by the Ministry of Magic. 

Another source, who resides near Privet Drive, has revealed to us that the Dursley family had left the residence less than twenty-four hours beforehand.

Tragically, all that remains of the property is a pile of rubble, and the wizarding community can only hope that this will be the last attack, although many people fear that this is just the first of many, the target: Harry Potter.

Something in Harry's brain clicked, and he realised what his dream had been about. He spoke aloud. "So _this _is the attack I dreamed about…whoops. I didn't want to tell you, I thought it would scare you. I guess that it doesn't matter anymore, now that _this_ is out in the papers." Seeing Hermione's confused face, he elaborated. "Last night, I had a dream. I saw Wormtail, and he had a whole team of Death Eaters. Seems that he's been promoted to second-in-command. Apparently they were trying to kill, well, me – as per normal. Obviously they didn't find out that I was gone until it was too late. Wormtail used the Killing Curse, _Avada Kevrada_ on the house, and for some strange reason it turned the house into a pile of rubble, like they said."

Hermione's brown eyes looked troubled. "But I thought that there were all of these spells on the house, and that was the reason that they haven't tried this before. Because that is the reason that you were able to come here – remember I told you Dumbledore put all of these spells on the house? Unless…" She trailed off.

Now Harry was curious. "Unless what?"

"Oh, I think Dumbledore said something about not needing to put protective spells on your house because of your blood relatives or something. But since we're not related, he had to put some on here. So maybe, since the Dursleys went away, and didn't take you with them, the house didn't have the protection on it that it should have."

He nodded in reply. "That makes sense. But the other thing that I want to know is, who on earth is this mystery source? I mean, how would they know that I had left, or that the Dursleys had gone on holidays?"

She looked puzzled, then said "Well, let's think about this logically. Who do you know that lives near you?"

He smiled. "Do you work out _everything _logically? Well, let's see. Obviously the Dursleys, and Dudley's friends, who liked to use me as a punching bag. I think that that's pretty much everyone I knew – I wasn't really friends with anyone at my old school before I found out that I was a wizard, because nobody wanted to be friends with anybody Dudley didn't like. And I didn't really know anybody else from the neighbour hood, because the Dursleys all thought I was weird, they knew about me being magical, so they tried to keep me out of sight of any visitors. No, hang on, I also knew one other person – apart from my Aunt Marge. Mrs Figg, my old babysitter. But I thought that she went away for the holidays – that was one of the reasons that I was able to come to your house. She seemed to hate me though…and that's about everyone I knew. Can you work out who it is? Because I can't seem to."

She looked confused, as though she was trying to work out something, or remember it. She started to think out loud. "Mrs. Figg. Where have I heard that before? I know! Didn't you say that when you were in the hospital wing last year that you heard him tell Sirius something about getting the old crowd together?"

He frowned, trying to remember. "Yeah, something about alerting Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher – and all of the old crowd. Hang on – Arabella Figg? Could that be Mrs. Figg?"

Hermione blinked. "Now I remember. Yes, I think that it is. But why would she act like she hated you all of these years? And what about after you found out that you were a wizard? Oh, hang on, you probably haven't seen her, have you?"

He was cut off for the second time as a brown owl with a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest on its leg flew in the window. "Would that be our booklist? It's a bit early if it is, and why is there only one?" 

Hermione reached up and took the letter from the owl. Unlike most Hogwarts owls, this one sat down near the sink, as if it was waiting for a reply, rather than flying back out the window, like most of the other ones. 

She glanced at the address on the letter, which was written in emerald green ink. "It's addressed to both of us," she said, as she opened it. She quickly scanned the first few lines, and her face went pale, as Harry took it out of her hands. 

__

Mr. Potter & Miss Granger,

By now, I am sure that you are aware of the article in the Daily Prophet, and I am not surprised if you, Harry, did not know about it already – through your scar. 

Unfortunately, we have heard through one of our secret agents that now Voldemort has risen again, he is keen to focus his efforts on killing you. For the safety of you, and your best friends' families, we have decided that it would be best if you take refuge at Hogwarts. It would also be wise for the Grangers and the Weasleys to join you. 

I can assure you that the highest precautions would be taken to ensure your safety. I await your reply.

Sincerely,

  
Professor Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts

Harry looked into Hermione's troubled face. "Does he mean that Death Eaters will target your house next, just because I'm staying here? What do you think that we should do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Harry. I don't know."

*****

Thirty minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Granger had arrived home from work, anxious to know what this 'emergency call' they had got while they were at work. Hermione just handed her mother the letter from Professor Dumbledore, and watched her face to see the reaction. 

Mrs. Granger took one look at the letter, handed it to Mr. Granger, who was looking even more curious at his wife's reaction, and said, "Well, that settles it, doesn't it. We will all have to go to Hogwarts. It is the only place that Harry will be safe, and Hermione too." 

Hermione looked surprised at the quick decision her mother had made. It was as if she had known something like this would happen, and she had already worked out what to do. "But, Mum, Dad, what about you. It sounds like you have already worked what you are going to do before you even knew about this. You aren't going to stay here, are you?"

Her mother laughed. "Oh, of course not. It wouldn't be safe to stay here, now that the Death Eaters know that Harry is here. As you of course would know, they don't care about the innocent – anybody who gets in their way will be killed. Dumbledore warned your father and I that something along these lines could happen when we agreed to look after Harry. Hence, we had a plan ready in case this happened. But now, I strongly advise that we all get packed. It would be best if we all left for Hogwarts today – as soon as possible."

They all went to their different rooms, and packed. In no time at the entire house was in a flurry of activity.

*****

Harry, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Granger all met up at the front door and went out to the car. Suddenly, Harry realised something. They didn't know how to get to Hogwarts by car. The only way they had ever gotten to Hogwarts was by the Hogwarts Express, but he was pretty sure that it only operated in school time, and at the beginning of the holidays, not all through them. "Excuse me, but how exactly are we going to get to Hogwarts?"

Mr. Granger laughed. "Oh, it's quite simple actually. Dumbledore told us about a location in London, which would transport us directly to Hogwarts, which we were to use if we ever needed it. It works much like the entrance to Diagon Alley, through the Leaky Cauldron, or the entrance to Platform 9 and ¾. Actually, we are very close to it now." As he said this, he turned the car off the road into what looked like a wood so thick a young child would have trouble getting through, but as soon as the front of the car touched the edge of the wood, the surroundings changed almost instantly. 

They emerged from the front of another forest, one that Harry recognised from his encounters with the creatures who lived in there. They were in front of a huge castle, one that both Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked mystified at the sight of it. Hermione noticed this, and grinned.

"Mum, Dad, welcome to Hogwarts."

A/N: This chapter was a lot easier to finish writing. Don't know why – but hopefully I will be able to get chapter 6 out a lot quicker than I have been getting them out. Review, please!


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